Thin clients Save Power

"If you lose data, it is the responsibility of the IT administrator and the responsibility of the company," Malhorta added. "They are very actively looking at any solution that provides more security. Security is probably the number one reason clients are going for thin clients. There is also the ease of manageability and ease of deployment and, as a result, the total cost of the solution goes down for thin clients."
Within outsourcing, Malhorta explained that U.S.-based companies that send projects to engineers in India or China want to keep the code secure on a server and send the work piecemeal to their employees. Thin clients, Malhorta said, allow this type of overseas arrangement with the help of secure VPNs.

With the push to provide more "green" solutions for IT departments, HP will also tout its thin clients power savings. While a typical HP desktop uses about 75 watts of power, the thin client uses 15 watts.

To that end, the company is unveiling the HP Compaq t5153 and the HP Compaq t5530 thin clients. The lower-end Compaq t5153, comes with a Via Eden processor, which is clocked at 400MHz, and runs the Linux operating system.
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The high-end Compaq t5530 uses a higher-performing 800MHz Via Eden processor and runs Microsoft Windows CE operating system. This thin client also comes with a number of extra features including a Web browser and media player.
These two new thin clients also come with additional features including a secure USB compartment, the use of HPs Quick Release technology, which allows for easier mounting of the PC, and wireless access through either 802.11b and 802.11g wireless LAN with an external USB option.
Each thin client has a 64MB flash memory and 128MB of DDR SDRAM (double-data-rate synchronous dynamic RAM).
In addition to these features, HP is offering three different ways to create "stateless" capabilities with its thin clients. The first allows users to load all the application onto one thin client, copy the information to a USB flash drive and then load the images and application onto other think clients.
The second, according to Malhotra, uses an FTP server that allows the thin client to connect to the network automatically when the machine is first powered up and find the settings and applications it needs. When the machine is shut down, the applications and images return to the network and are not stored within the thin client.
The third capability uses Microsofts SMB. This allows the user to create a "master thin client" that can connect to other thin clients through a companys network. The images and applications are stored onto the master client and users can then migrate those applications to the other thin clients.
The HP Compaq t5153 Thin Client, which carries a price tag of $199, will be available as of Feb. 1. The Compaq t5530, which costs $299, will hit the market on March 1.
In addition to its thin-client portfolio, HP is also expanding its CCI (Consolidated Client Infrastructure) for its PC blade architecture. This includes virtualization and streaming software from Microsoft SoftGrid and Altiris SVS (Software Virtualization Solution). Also, HP is including new manageability tools that will help customize thin client and blade PCs.
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